Spoilers! TRON2 Script Details Leak Online

Jim here. An early script draft of Disney's stereographic 3D TRON 2 has popped up on the Interwebs over on CC2K. Lets have a look:

**WARNING SPOILERS**

The Set-up
Remember the Encom corporation? Well, they're hard at work on a new global information network called X-Net. They're pitching it as the world's only 100 percent secure information network. Encom code monkeys are working 'round the clock to get X-Net ready for launch, but a powerful virus keeps attacking their core system: a virus called Tron. Meanwhile, other computer viruses have been proliferating around the world, making X-Net a massive success before its launch. Everyone is terrified that the world's computer systems – from the Internet on down – are going to crash, and X-Net is the only solution.

The First Twist
Encom's evil CEO, named Sinclair in this draft, engineered the global virus attacks to frighten everyone (and I mean everyone) to get on board with X-Net so he'll have total control over all the world's information.

The Second Twist
Years ago, Sinclair managed to use the lazer-digitizer thingy from the first movie to zap Jeff Bridges' character (Kevin Flynn) into the Encom system. Sinclair thought he killed Flynn, but Flynn has remained alive inside the system as a freedom fighter. Flynn used the Tron program as the base code for a powerful new app that's designed to take down X-Net.

For a full analysis from Tony Lazlo of CC2K (self confessing: "Yes, yes yes – I am a gigantic fucking geek") check it out right here. He does a good job of breaking down what has been learned.

Keep in mind this is an early draft so undoubtedly changes have been made but it is good to get an idea of the direction for this sequel. I know many are looking forward to it including myself. And of course in 3D!

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ICE AGE 3D And TRANSFORMERS 2 Battle It Out At The Box Office

Jim here. After the 3D animated movie ICE AGE: DAWN OF THE DINOSAURS captured top spot in the box office on this past Wednesday ($13.8m vs $11m), TRANSFORMERS 2 in plain ol' 2D managed to grab back Thursday ($11.5m vs. $11.1m) and Friday's crown ($17.8m vs. $17m) so it is anybody's guess for today's victory as the afternoon matinees light up.

My money is on ICE AGE as the families will be out in full force this weekend. And lets face it - and Michael Bay better be facing it too: If he had done TF2 in 3D, his box office would have been monstrous. And he definitely would have taken the all time 5 day release record from THE DARK KNIGHT.

Bay still claims he is not interested in 3D at the moment but we all know Bay is all about the money. He doesn't hide from it either - it is clear in his interviews: A recent Forbes magazine article has him boldly entitled "Michael Bay, Making movies, enemies AND A LOT OF MONEY". So do I see 3D in Bay's future? Oh yes.

So expect ICE AGE with it's third dimension beat out TF2 today and perhaps tomorrow. The claim for the weekend is completely up in the air though. Lets see!

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Second "Cloudy" Trailer Online!

Michael here. Take a look at this new 2-and-a-half minute Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs trailer - this one is narrated by protagonist Flint Lockwood (Bill Hader), and shows a lot of cool stuff from throughout the movie. I think the animation looks ace, and I'm betting Sony Pictures Imageworks will do amazing things with the 3D (check out Jim's interview here).

Click here for HD version


Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs is forecast for a September 18 release.

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Avatar Taking Over San Diego! Comic-Con Banner Unveiled!

**UPDATE - July 2, 2009: Further info about differences between Na'vi and Avatars! Jim here again. Here is what my source has to say: "There is major difference between the Na’vi and the avatars. It was visible in the footage shown at Amsterdam, but the viewers were so stunned they didn’t notice. The Na’vi have four fingers and toes; the avatars have five. In addition to the eyes, the avatar’s nose is also slightly smaller than the Na’vi’s."

Pay attention guys! :-) That includes me!

**ANOTHER SAME DAY UPDATE: Exclusive insider info on the Na'vi image in the poster - this is from a trusted source: "Since one of the viewers of the Amsterdam presentation already mentioned it, the avatars do look somewhat like their human counterparts. This means the Na’vi look less human. Larger eyes for one. (Jim: Actually heard Neytiri has a striking resemblance to Zoe Saldana).

Unfortunately, geometric distortion was introduced when people photoshopped the banner picture, which was slightly oblique, to generate a full-frontal view. This made the facial features look smaller in relation to the size of the head, as well as distorting the nose.

The glowing spots are on the face, not an overlay of a star map. Whether they are naturally-occurring markings, tattoos made with bioluminescent bacteria, emanations of mysterious psychic powers, or simply applied dots of glowing makeup must be left to your readers’ imaginations at present."

Interesting!! Comicon is the place to be...

UPDATE: Now with the original, higher resolution pics from the official Comic-Con Twitter feed. Click for the big versions.

Michael here. This is awesome - It looks like Avatar will completely rule Comic-Con this year. The opening salvo of the marketing campaign are these banners that are appearing in downtown San Diego.

My guess is that this is Jake in avatar form, and that the dots of light are bioluminescent in origin. I love the design - it has enough "humanness" for the audience to relate to, but enough "other" to be definitively alien. That was the problem with most of the non-Davy Jones characters from the "Pirates" sequels - they're too cartoonish. But Davy and the Na'vis get it right.

I've heard from a number of sources that the Avatar panel will be first thing Thursday morning. So be sure you get to Comic-Con early if you want to see history in the making!

Another pic from the official Comic-Con Twitter page:

Here's an enhanced version of the poster and a full-face manip, courtesy of "Ludovic":

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Alexandre Aja Talks PIRANHA 3D - Will be Converted in Post

Michael here. ShockTillYouDrop.com visited the set of Piranha 3D and came back with an in-depth interview with director Alexandre Aja.

It's a very good read. Among other things, Aja discusses his decision to convert in post instead of shooting the film in 3D:

Shock: What 3-D process are you using for this film?

Aja: It's very bizarre because we started the process by talking about using the new system that James Cameron used [for Avatar]. I realized along the way that those cameras were forcing me, first, to shoot in HD and then there were too many technical parameters that were not good. So, we heard about a new technique they were developing that nobody really used before which is the conversion. The conversion is more expensive, much more work in post-production. You're basically shooting the movie in the traditional way thinking 3-D and then the whole movie would be converted by computer. The camera in 35mm is shooting all of us here and then the computer is going to modelize each of us in 3-D and inside the computer you're going to screen, you're going to project the image on the 3-D model and you create that space and that whole style. It's very complicated. I was kind of like, "Oh, it's impossible it's not going to feel natural," and I saw 20 minutes of King Kong being converted and it's the best thing I've ever seen. When I see 20 minutes of that, I mean, I don't understand why the studio is not finishing the movie and releasing the movie again in 3-D. It's the best, best, best, best. I've also seen stuff from The Matrix and from Star Wars, the original.

Shock: Whoa. They're just converting it for 3-D?

Aja: Yeah, it's unbelievable. It's not like black and white convert in color where you see that it's stained and it's not natural. It's amazing, there is no word. It was great for us because we are shooting for real on cinemascope anamorphic on film, shooting it as a normal movie. So, it's much faster and we have a full control on the 3-D. Without being presumptuous, I think the 3-D experience on Piranha is going to be the best one that's ever made.

Head over to ShockTillYouDrop.com for the full interview.

What do you think of Aja's decision not to shoot in 3D? I'm expecting that some big budget live-action movies will be announced for 3D soon - and I hope at least some are shot that way.

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A World First - How About A Some 3D Gaming Before That 3D Movie!

Jim here. Thanks to Matt in the UK for sending me another great story - this time Register Hardware has the goods on a new 3D Gaming System being set up for use before 3D movies are shown in 20 UK based VUE Entertainment screens (RealD) starting on July 10, 2009.

The game seems fairly rudimentary but of course it is first generation stuff and the idea is to involve the audience with an interactive gaming experience in 3D before 3D movies. Awesome idea that is finally coming of age.

O2's ASTEROID STORM brings the viewers into the mix by using two or more infrared cameras on the theater ceiling to track their hand movements. Sections of the audience simply raise their hands to control whatever it is on the screen that they are responsible for. In this case they must maneuver a damaged space ship in an asteroid field out of harms way. The game's server then takes the audiences various hand movements and plots out the real time motion of the space ship.

Of course asteroids are coming at you in 3D while this is happening! This game will show in front of ICE AGE: DAWN OF THE DINOSAURS and TOY STORY in major UK cities.

Some locations are: Vue Leicester Square, Vue Bristol Cribbs Causeway, Vue Edinburgh Waterside, Vue Finchley road, London, Vue Kirkstall road, Leeds, Vue West End, AMC Manchester, AMC Birmingham, Truro Plaza.

Time to get this over to North America PRONTO. Think of the imaginative games you can come up with! Now, most of the time my immediate neighbors in a theater leave a lot to be desired - blazing light from their phones or incessant talking... Perhaps these games can bring us all closer together! Gain respect from your fellow movie goer and become part of the greater good!!

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Want To Learn To Shoot 3D Movies? 3D Workshop In NYC

Jim here. This post is for anyone in the business or who wants to be, to learn more about 3D movie making. StudentFilmMakers.com is putting on a special 3D Workshop in New York City on July 11, 2009. Should be a great opportunity to bring yourself up to speed with today's 3D technology and allow you to examine where you could fit into the 3D revolution.

Here are the details:

Shooting in 3D Workshop with Julian Chojnacki
Shooting "The Final Destination" and the future of 3D production

Date: Saturday, July 11, 2009, 10am - 1pm
Arrive at 9:30am for coffee and networking.
Location: 1133 Broadway, R245, New York, NY 10010

How we see in 3D and how the camera reproduces it.
The Cameron/Pace 3D camera system. Components and how it all works.
Challenges of shooting in 3D. Advantages and Pitfalls.
Alterations and Limitations in shooting.
Steadicam and Underwater.
Crew and support required.
Shooting "The Final Destination" and the future of 3D production.
Q&A Session

Price is $55, but if you register before July 2 you get $10 off. Also $10 off for students.

You can register right here.

This is what I like to see! There should be much more of this happening and the opportunity is now. Hats off to everyone involved; I am sure it will be a smashing success!

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Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs Review

Michael here. Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs is a humongous start for Fox's 3D efforts.

The best of the three Ice Age movies, "Dawn of the Dinosaurs" is not only action-packed and funny, but is a very well-told story. Each character gets his/her own emotional arc. Truths regarding family bonds, parenting, courage, the need for love and companionship, and forging one's own trail form the movie's heart. The movie isn't sappy, though, as it acknowledges potential reasons why "herds" may break apart. Diego and Sid in particular find themselves dealing with loneliness (in Sid's case), or the need to strike out on one's own (Diego).

It also has the most audience-pleasing use of 3D in a CG animated family film to date. The pterodactyl chase and the bubble scene were some of the 3D standouts. There were no gimmicky 'stuff sticking into your face' 3D moments. Instead, the 3D draws you into the prehistoric world that the characters uncover. But I must say that I really felt an inch away from Scrat's funny-looking snout as he sniffed around for that acorn. Speaking of everyone's favorite squirrel/rat hybrid, Scrat has a love interest in the film, forming a storyline that surprises with how well it intersects with with the main plot of the movie.

The action sequences are a lot of fun - tense, well edited, and filled with character moments and humor. The movie itself played great to the crowd of parents and kids which formed the majority of my screening audience. The movie knows how to create excitement and get you cheering for the characters, and is filled with applause worthy moments. It's this great sense of pacing and payoff (both in terms of action and character) which got the audience cheering and elevates this film above the first two Ice Age movies.

Packed with jokes that work on multiple levels for audiences of all ages, the movie is very funny without resorting to pop-culture references. There were constant laughs and running commentary from the kids in the audience. In particular, Simon Pegg's character 'Buck' is an incredibly entertaining addition to the cast. His performance as a borderline crazy Australian hermit swashbuckling weasel leaps off the screen.

This movie will do great business. I'm very interested to see where the story goes next. Will it be the rumored "Ice Age: Th4w" which sees the gang getting frozen and defrosted in a modern-day museum? Or something completely different?

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Avatar: Na'vi description, Trailer Update and More

Michael here. People have been requesting a bit more detail regarding the look of the Na'vi and avatar characters. The same source who gave us that awesome reaction to the footage tells us about them below. He also gives the latest on the trailer from Cameron and provides some nice pictures and anecdotes from the festivities:

hey man,

Expo's over so finally have some time to give you a more detailed N'avi description.

The previous art is nothing like what the movie's N'avi ended up like. No blue lines, no floating (as far as I've seen).
The best description is luminescent (living) Blue tall people with a lot of Lion influences in the face.
They're about 10ft tall, so think more like double/triple the size of humans.
They all seem to have long hair in a braid and a tail best described as Lionesque (to connect to the Banshees or whatever they're called)
Their eyes are a lot bigger than human eyes, and bright yellow. It's also one of the features that most draws you into believing this world.
I saw the 'A Christmas Carol' footage and although it's an advancement from Beowulf, it's not an evolution from it because the muscles around the eyes and eyelids are still dead. They don't move, and really push the reality of it being mocap instead of people.
That just doesn't live. It's still very much a fantasy world created as a story device/enhancement. Avatar is more about the world where the story happens to take place. If that makes sense.

The clothing is very basic/tribal, so just cloths and belts.
Neytiri wore a beaded headband with beads down her forehand, reminding me a bit of indian/mayan headwear. Jake had a rifle gun, Na'vi sized which he parades around a lot in the first scenes described. Norm has a bag with him (probables with vials to take samples)

I was also asked about the glasses we wore during the presentation. I have them right here, they're the standard RealD 3D non colored glasses they use for cinema screenings around the world. I didn't find them taking anything away off the experience, it's just something you completely forget because you're so immersed in discovering the world displayed on screen.
We saw Ice Age 3D that morning with different glasses which used the 'old' red/green technology and those for me were a lot more disturbing.

Michael's note: The following material - from his experience at the after party - was included in the source's original email, but he just gave me the go-ahead to post it:

Cameron's wife says what I feel the best. "I took friends to the sets, they signed waivers and stuff. But really, when you would TRY to explain what you saw, you can't. It wont do justice to whatever you experienced or what they will when they see it." This movie is made of stuff we didn't think would happen for 10 years. This movie makes it possible.

Afterparty was amazing, talking with Cameron for about 10/15 minutes was just mindblowing. He is so proud of this movie and still handles it with great suave like he just folded a paper plane. I asked how long the movie is right now. He answered with, "I don't want too say how long. That implies it's TOO long. Epic is more of the right word."
He really shined when he told us how Steven Spielberg and Peter jackson are now working on TinTin with this and how he gave them to the studio for a week to 'play with it'. I am just mindbaffled how a genius like that can contain himself with something like this.

He told me he has a trailer, but isn't done with it. He wants it to showcase what the world is like, rather than impress with 3D because in his opinion most people will watch the trailer online.

He told me nobody had seen this stuff outside of production (even most of the studio flew down, I heard) and that he was truly happy to share this. When he saw the backdrop of the stage of the party with the artwork, he gasped and said "Whoa". When I joked he could take it home he said, "I wish, I just dont have walls big enough for it! ;) "
It was historic, and talking to the man afterwards was a true pleasure. Also Sam Worthington was flown in by private jet from the Clash of the Titans set so didn't attend the afterparty. Talking to Zoe Saldana at the party was cool too. She said during the presentation she wanted to create, "a fearless memorable action heroine" and when I told her she already did with Uhura, she actually became shy. Not hollywood shy, but very down to earth and said: "That makes me incredibly humble. I really want to thank you for saying that!". Then the convo turned to Amsterdam (i'm born and raised here) and she just seems so down to earth.

Seeing this today together with the real costumes, on-set footage and props from Burton's Alice in Wonderland made this such a day to remember.

The source also sent the following regarding the trailer:

Hey man,

Just heard from my contact that the cut of that trailer isn't final. It's what Cameron has now to give FOX an idea of the direction he wants to take the trailer. It was shown to fox execs at the Expo this morning. It'll be heavily tweaked and won't be expected until mid/end august to be shown online/cinema's etc.

I can tell you we saw 2 full scenes from A Christmas Carol that are 85% finished and everyone afterwards gushed on how Avatar is so completely beyond that mo-cap.

Thanks to "Sledgehammer" for the great reporting and after party pics!

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Quick Post: STEP UP 3-D Shooting In Lower East Side Right Now

Jim here. For all you interested in the production progress of Disney's STEP UP 3-D, they are going to be shooting all next week inside the vacant Essex Market Building D at the corner of Broome and Essex Streets in New York City. This according to the Bowery Boogie. Check out the site for more pics!

Further locations according to @Mishcam are "grand street tomorrow and next Wed and thurs. Btwn St marys at ridge and essex."

It is sad to think Michael Jackson was getting ready to be shot in 3D during his London concert gigs. There was no better entertainer.

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